Jack White Clarifies Claims That Lady Gaga Is 'All Artifice'

The former White Stripes frontman was quoted as saying: "It's all image with no meaning behind it. You can't sink your teeth into it. It's a sound bite."

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After news emerged that Jack White had criticized Lady Gaga in a new interview with Esquire UK, calling the pop star “all artifice,” the Nashville musician posted a note of clarification on his website this morning. White, who termed the reports “tabloidesque drama baiting,” said that his comments were taken out of context and that he never meant anything negative about her music, adding that he commends the singer for “her championing of gay rights issues.”

In the interview with Esquire UK, via Rolling Stone, White said of Gaga’s music, “I don't think she lives it because it's all artifice. It's all image with no meaning behind it. You can't sink your teeth into it. It's a sound bite. It's very of this age, because that's what people want. They want a Twitter line, a jpeg, an MP3.”

But apparently White never meant any slight on Gaga specifically. He wrote on his website today, “I never said anything about her music, or questioned the authenticity of her songs in any way. I was in a conversation about the drawbacks of image for the sake of image, and that it is popular nowadays to not question an image in front of you, but only to label it as ‘cool’ or ‘weird’ quickly and dispose of it. I don’t like my comments about Lady Gaga’s presentation being changed into some sort of negative critique of her music.”

White also took the opportunity to critique the journalistic integrity of those involved. He wrote, “If you’re going to try to cause drama, at least get the quotes right. I think journalists should also be held accountable for what they say,” adding, “I also think that kind of tabloid drama encourages artists to not express their opinions in the press, and instead give polite sound bites that don’t stimulate thought about creativity and the consumption of art in its many guises.”

Lady Gaga has not responded to the initial quote or White’s clarification.